ST. PETERSBURG AND EUROPEAN INFLUENCE
St. Petersburg and Berlin—Big Houses—The "Lions"—Peter the Great—His
Aims and Policy—The German Regime—Nationalist Reaction—French
Influence—Consequent Intellectual Sterility—Influence of the
Sentimental School—Hostility to Foreign Influences—A New Period of
Literary Importation—Secret Societies—The Catastrophe—The Age of
Nicholas—A Terrible War on Parnassus—Decline of Romanticism and
Transcendentalism—Gogol—The Revolutionary Agitation of 1848—New
Reaction—Conclusion.
CHAPTER XXVII
CHAPTER XXVII
THE CRIMEAN WAR AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
The Emperor Nicholas and his System—The Men with Aspirations and the
Apathetically Contented—National Humiliation—Popular Discontent
and the Manuscript Literature—Death of Nicholas—Alexander II.—New
Spirit—Reform Enthusiasm—Change in the Periodical Literature—The
Kolokol—The Conservatives—The Tchinovniks—First Specific
Proposals—Joint-Stock Companies—The Serf Question Comes to the Front.
CHAPTER XXVIII
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE SERFS
The Rural Population in Ancient Times—The Peasantry in the Eighteenth
Century—How Was This Change Effected?—The Common Explanation
Inaccurate—Serfage the Result of Permanent Economic and Political
Causes—Origin of the Adscriptio Glebae—Its Consequences—Serf
Insurrection—Turning-point in the History of Serfage—Serfage in
Russia and in Western Europe—State Peasants—Numbers and Geographical
Distribution of the Serf Population—Serf Dues—Legal and Actual Power
of the Proprietors—The Serfs' Means of Defence—Fugitives—Domestic
Serfs—Strange Advertisements in the Moscow Gazette—Moral Influence of
Serfage.
CHAPTER XXIX
CHAPTER XXIX
THE EMANCIPATION OF THE SERFS
The Question Raised—Chief Committee—The Nobles of the Lithuanian
Provinces—The Tsar's Broad Hint to the Noblesse—Enthusiasm in the
Press—The Proprietors—Political Aspirations—No Opposition—The
Government—Public Opinion—Fear of the Proletariat—The Provincial
Committees—The Elaboration Commission—The Question Ripens—Provincial
Deputies—Discontent and Demonstrations—The Manifesto—Fundamental
Principles of the Law—Illusions and Disappointment of the
Serfs—Arbiters of the Peace—A Characteristic Incident—Redemption—Who
Effected the Emancipation?
CHAPTER XXX
CHAPTER XXX
THE LANDED PROPRIETORS SINCE THE EMANCIPATION
Two Opposite Opinions—Difficulties of Investigation—The Problem
Simplified—Direct and Indirect Compensation—The Direct Compensation
Inadequate—What the Proprietors Have Done with the Remainder of
Their Estates—Immediate Moral Effect of the Abolition of Serfage—The
Economic Problem—The Ideal Solution and the Difficulty of Realising
It—More Primitive Arrangements—The Northern Agricultural Zone—The
Black-earth Zone—The Labour Difficulty—The Impoverishment of
the Noblesse Not a New Phenomenon—Mortgaging of Estates—Gradual
Expropriation of the Noblesse-Rapid Increase in the Production and
Export of Grain—How Far this Has Benefited the Landed Proprietors.
CHAPTER XXXI
CHAPTER XXXI
THE EMANCIPATED PEASANTRY
The Effects of Liberty—Difficulty of Obtaining Accurate
Information—Pessimist Testimony of the Proprietors—Vague Replies of
the Peasants—My Conclusions in 1877—Necessity of Revising Them—My
Investigations Renewed in 1903—Recent Researches by Native Political
Economists—Peasant Impoverishment Universally Recognised—Various
Explanations Suggested—Demoralisation of the Common People—Peasant
Self-government—Communal System of Land Tenure—Heavy
Taxation—Disruption of Peasant Families—Natural Increase of
Population—Remedies Proposed—Migration—Reclamation of Waste
Land—Land-purchase by Peasantry—Manufacturing Industry—Improvement of
Agricultural Methods—Indications of Progress.
CHAPTER XXXII
CHAPTER XXXII
THE ZEMSTVO AND THE LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT
Necessity of Reorganising the Provincial Administration—Zemstvo Created
in 1864—My First Acquaintance with the Institution—District and
Provincial Assemblies—The Leading Members—Great Expectations Created
by the Institution—These Expectations Not Realised—Suspicions and
Hostility of the Bureaucracy—Zemstvo Brought More Under Control of the
Centralised Administration—What It Has Really Done—Why It Has Not
Done More—-Rapid Increase of the Rates—How Far the Expenditure
Is Judicious—Why the Impoverishment of the Peasantry Was
Neglected—Unpractical, Pedantic Spirit—Evil Consequences—Chinese and
Russian Formalism—Local Self-Government of Russia Contrasted with That
of England—Zemstvo Better than Its Predecessors—Its Future.
CHAPTER XXXIII
CHAPTER XXXIII